How to become a Climate Champion

Cover of a toolkit paper / Illustration: Stacey Byer

On June 24th 2016, the Government of Grenada officially launched a variety of different school material among them the climate change toolkit “How to become a Greenz Climate Champion”. It aims to introduce the topic of climate change and adaptation in eight activity-based and interactive units to primary school teachers and students. The Grenadian-German Programme “Integrated Climate Change Adaptation Strategies” (ICCAS) introduced the toolkit to 49 primary schools in the small island state and is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB). Roland Bhola the Grenadian Minister for Agriculture, Lands, Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment said in his remarks: “I appreciate the simple language and how it approaches difficult topics like the “greenhouse effect” or “ocean pollution” in a playful manner. Every unit has an activity where you play a game or go on a field trip or build something. I am already a big fan of the “fishing game”. What a great way to learn about sustainable fishing and how to protect our reefs. And maybe I will try to sew my own shopping bag later on.”

The toolkit consists of a teacher manual, a worksheet collection, student passports, stickers and posters. Grenadian illustrator Stacey Byer developed child-friendly images for each unit. To date, 400 posters and 900 student passports including sticker sets were delivered to primary schools. Explaining the often rather scientific topic of climate change in a simple and hands-on manner, the toolkit provides the base of climate change teaching for children at young age. Students will for example go on a scavenger hunt in the mangrove forest, make their own reusable shopping bags out of old t-shirts or build their own solar oven. The toolkit hence lays the groundwork for a thorough understanding of society of the topic of crucial importance for the survival of Small Island Development States like Grenada. Following seven workshops across the island state during the past year, teachers provided comprehensive feedback on the different units and have already begun to use the toolkit resources in their classrooms. ICCAS is funded by the IKI of the BMUB with more than EUR 5 million and implemented jointly by the Environment Division of the MALFFE, Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and UNDP.